President Bush upholds ITC ruling to ban Qualcomm 3G chipsets

The ITC ban on Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) 3G chipsets has been whipping up more drama than we know what to do with. It’s more exciting than our mid-day soap operas, and that’s saying a lot – we really, really, love our “stories.”

Let’s get you up to speed. You see, meanie Qualcomm has been picking IP fights with the likes of Nokia and Broadcom. But, Broadcom (NSDQ: BRCM) fought back with a vengence, they went all the way to the top – Broadcom asked the US International Trade Commission to ban Qualcomm’s 3G chips based on patent infringement. The ITC backed Broadcom and banned all 3G mobile phones that used the patent-infringing Qualcomm chipsets from US import. Then Qualcomm cried foul to the head honcho, Prez Bushie, to overturn the ITC ruling.

Then the companies that were on Qualcomm’s side bailed and made some side-deals with Broadcom to bring those highly-sought 3G handsets States-side. That kind of took the wind out of Qualcomm’s sails.

So, that brings us to today. Little Bushie just denied Qualcomm’s appeal and said he would stand by the ITC’s ruling to ban Qualcomm from US import.  US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said that the government would stick to its history of only overturning ITC rulings that were “extraordinary.”

Qualcomm will be turning to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington for an appeal to overturn the ITC ban, and asking for a hold on the ruling while the court considers the appeal.

It looks like the proverbial screw is drilling down on Qualcomm these days.

[Via: Forbes]